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Router as AV?

Hello All,

It has been suggested to me (see Masked Hacker IP post below) that a router would be an effective device to add to my anti-virus arsenal, especially inasmuch as all of my protection was recently rendered ineffective in a vicious attack.

How would a router work on a stand alone PC? What kind of router (wireless?) would I get? Would it work in tandem with my firewall or would I need to uninstall Zone Alarm first? Anything else I should know about this?

Do you mean like the Viruswall Concept? Or unless you mean using a router for simple ACL concepts and blocking outbound ports that various worms would take advantage of?

Remember that a router is simply a device that moves packets from one network to another. Understanding what is a router might help you first in this quest as it might deal with some of your questions. Although simply, no you wouldn't need to uninstall Zone Alarm and the choice of which router to get depends on your budget. Many manufacturers make home/SOHO routers for anywhere from $30CDN to $200CDN (little 4-8 port types).

The only benefit I could see to inserting a router would be if you enabled NAT and block all ports except the specific ports you need. The benefit would be to prevent some of the worms that are propagated through non standard ports from infecting your internal network. I guess that could be considered an AV benefit.

m2

Work... Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints...